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Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

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Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#581

Post by neysofu »

pier25 wrote: post #460

Given the La Liga situation in Spain with Cloudflare you can't really say he is wrong. But his MAGA comments make me ashamed to be a Cloudflare customer.

Which MAGA comment, specifically? Are you referring to this?

> While there are things I would handle differently than the current U.S. administration, I appreciate @JDVance taking a leadership role in recognizing this type of regulation is a fundamental unfair trade issue [...]

You may or may not agree, it hardly seems MAGA though.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#582

Post by ta9000 »

kentonv wrote: post #563
pop_calc wrote: post #325

The appeal to JD Vance is properly craven and validates the view that their business model is effectively a protection racket. Recall the unsavoury episode with taviso, when they lobbied the FTC to investigate him after he helped clean up their mess during Cloudbleed. They always pivot to aggression when challenged.

> when they lobbied the FTC to investigate him FYI Cloudflare didn't actually do that: https://x.com/eastdakota/status/1566160152684011520 (Disclosure: I work at Cloudflare but have no personal involvement with this.)

Right. I guess we’ll have to take his word for it.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#583

Post by ta9000 »

oaiey wrote: post #531
Pedro_Ribeiro wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people not understand that companies on this scale are geopolitically important?

Thank they should act like it and respect the laws of the countries. If you run to the US executive to assert US understanding of law onto other countries you are geopolitical important, however, as a tool for the US national interest not as a true international company. A true international company would serve their customers in their legal systems. Fight the laws there, try to make them better, but don't strongarm…

Italy should have no right to take a website off the internet globally, which from what I’ve read this allows them to do. That’s insane.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#584

Post by kavaruka »

immibis wrote: post #540
enricotal wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also another Italian here. For context, the "Piracy Shield" mentioned in the order is basically a legislative hacksaw authorized by the regulator (AGCOM) primarily to protect Serie A football rights. Soccer rules Italy more than the Vatican.. It’s a mess technically: it mandates ISPs and DNS providers to block IPs/domains within 30 minutes of a report, with zero judicial oversight. It’s infamous locally for false pos…

Can someone report a bunch of government websites and legal streaming services and see what happens?

Only right owners can report websites, the Piracy Shield is essentially a tool in the hands of “Serie A Soccer League” and DAZN.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#585

Post by retr0rocket »

ta9000 wrote: post #580
enricotal wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also another Italian here. For context, the "Piracy Shield" mentioned in the order is basically a legislative hacksaw authorized by the regulator (AGCOM) primarily to protect Serie A football rights. Soccer rules Italy more than the Vatican.. It’s a mess technically: it mandates ISPs and DNS providers to block IPs/domains within 30 minutes of a report, with zero judicial oversight. It’s infamous locally for false pos…

> The NUCLEAR threat regarding the 2026 Winter Olympics (Milano-Cortina) is the real leverage here. He’s bypassing the regulator and putting a gun to the government’s head regarding national prestige and infrastructure security. Kind of wild that a private company has that kind of power, both in terms of being one of the few that can offer this service and they can make threats at this level.

[dead]

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#586

Post by 0xy »

klaff wrote: post #301
0xy wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because the admin has been vocal and proactive about extraterritorial overreach by European countries hellbent on global censorship programs. The UK has thrown thousands of people in jail for speech on social media, as has Germany. Both of those countries also attempt to censor speech OUTSIDE of their own countries too. https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/20...

>The UK has thrown thousands of people in jail for speech on social media, as has Germany. Source?

Certainly. The UK routinely and repeatedly jails people for protected speech, including speech protected by international standards. [1] [2] [3]

[1] https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-kingdom/freedom-net/...

[2] "Internet freedom declined in the United Kingdom during the coverage period due to a reported increase in criminal charges for online speech"

[3] "A separate report from The Telegraph found that 292 people had been charged for spreading false information and “threatening communications” under the Online Safety Act between when it came into effect in 2023 and February 2025. Some civil liberties groups expressed concern that the laws were being applied broadly and in some cases punished speech protected by international human rights standards (C3)."

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#587

Post by 0xy »

jimnotgym wrote: post #276
0xy wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably because the admin has been vocal and proactive about extraterritorial overreach by European countries hellbent on global censorship programs. The UK has thrown thousands of people in jail for speech on social media, as has Germany. Both of those countries also attempt to censor speech OUTSIDE of their own countries too. https://www.state.gov/releases/office-of-the-spokesperson/20...

> proactive extraterritorial overreach They are certainly very active in the subject, although judging by the last week, they are not really against it in every case >The UK has thrown thousands of people in jail for speech on social media That is just not true, is it. No matter how many times you say it

https://freedomhouse.org/country/united-kingdom/freedom-net/...

"Internet freedom declined in the United Kingdom during the coverage period due to a reported increase in criminal charges for online speech"

"A separate report from The Telegraph found that 292 people had been charged for spreading false information and “threatening communications” under the Online Safety Act between when it came into effect in 2023 and February 2025. Some civil liberties groups expressed concern that the laws were being applied broadly and in some cases punished speech protected by international human rights standards (C3)."

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#588

Post by kentonv »

ta9000 wrote: post #582
kentonv wrote: post #563

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> when they lobbied the FTC to investigate him FYI Cloudflare didn't actually do that: https://x.com/eastdakota/status/1566160152684011520 (Disclosure: I work at Cloudflare but have no personal involvement with this.)

Right. I guess we’ll have to take his word for it.

Not sure if my word is any better but I wouldn't be working for him if I thought he was the kind of person who harasses security researchers.

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#589

Post by [deleted] »

oytis wrote: post #492
Alupis wrote: post #452

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do when the fine is more than double your annual revenue in the foreign nation, has international and geopolitical implications, impacts many other US businesses, could harm foreign relations, and will harm regular US citizens. That's exactly the type of thing the Executive Branch is supposed to deal with.

Executive branch is supposed to deal with other countries' laws and courts? Does it also hold for European executive branches and American laws? I don't want to even imagine a world that works like this.

[deleted]

Re: Cloudflare CEO on the Italy fines

#590

Post by asa400 »

ta9000 wrote: post #580
enricotal wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also another Italian here. For context, the "Piracy Shield" mentioned in the order is basically a legislative hacksaw authorized by the regulator (AGCOM) primarily to protect Serie A football rights. Soccer rules Italy more than the Vatican.. It’s a mess technically: it mandates ISPs and DNS providers to block IPs/domains within 30 minutes of a report, with zero judicial oversight. It’s infamous locally for false pos…

> The NUCLEAR threat regarding the 2026 Winter Olympics (Milano-Cortina) is the real leverage here. He’s bypassing the regulator and putting a gun to the government’s head regarding national prestige and infrastructure security. Kind of wild that a private company has that kind of power, both in terms of being one of the few that can offer this service and they can make threats at this level.

This is one of the consequences of outsourcing this (and other capabilities) to the private sector.

Many governments simply don’t have the skill and political will to invest in these kinds of capabilities, which puts them at the mercy of private actors that do. Not saying this is good or bad, just trying to describe it as I see it.

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